The Seventeenth Annual

        Summer Solstice Celebration

                                                                      Tuesday June 21st, at 2:00 pm

2011 is a master Water year, as years ending in the number one are related to water, according to the Dagara people in West Africa.  We are in a major transformational time and cannot ignore the tsunami, the global wide floods, the droughts, the fires, the tornadoes, the mud slides that are hitting our planet with increased intensity.  We see and feel the trauma, the grief, the devastation around us and at the same time an increased compassion and love is pouring out.  As the Earth is going through her initiation in her attempt to renew herself it is the water that clears her path, cleansing and renewing her so she can birth into a higher vibration.  All who live upon her are affected by this process.  It is a moment of deep grief as well as joy as all this intense suffering is pushed to the surface by the light that can no longer be contained.  It is a global dismantling in which we have an opportunity to reset the patterns of suffering imprinted in our ancient ancestry.

The solstice is a turning point and in this solstice, as we celebrate the moment of fullest light in which the seed of darkness is held, we become conscious of how precarious life is.  Amidst the beauty of the Mother’s full flowering skirt there lives a grief tempered joy.  It is a suffering which has brought beauty that has wrestled with life and ultimately feeds the soul and the world of spirit.

and Ann Sousa guide you through this very participatory ritual.  At this Solstice we come to honor the ancient grief of the ancestors, in the deep waters that are speaking to us from a Global level.  The great waters are asking all of us to heal and bring forth the flow of reconciliation, back and back to the unborn children.  We gather on the Mother, aware of how the footprints of our ancestors have affected her and our own lives.  Through our healing and grief we find joy, which become pearls of beauty that feed the other world, so they feed us and keep life going.   We wash her bones with our tears, caress her skin with our heart, and allow reconciliation to flow through our love.

The question: What ancient grief do you hold in your bones? 

Bring a rock that you are willing to part with that represents that ancient grief.

Also bring a blue ribbon that is at least a yard long that represents grief being transformed into beauty.  Do something creative with that ribbon; such as weaving your poems, gratitude and prayers into it.  Tie things into it that are symbols of that grief transformed.  The more you put into it, the more powerful your prayer the more it will feed spirit.  The reciprocity to the Earth and Ancestors is a key piece.

Also we ask you to bring a raw egg, the egg being a link to the universal life on this planet.

And finally please bring flowers, lots of flowers to bathe the Mother in beauty and love.

This ritual is highly participatory and it is quite a production.  We need your involvement during and before the ritual! Please come early to help to decorate the shrine with flowers, to set up the archways and the ritual space.  We will be arriving around 11:00 AM to begin setting up the space. Helping brings your energy to the ritual. By 1.30 PM we will explain the details of the event.

We need drummers and singers to keep the energy up.  Drummers please meet with us at 1.00 PM so we can review the ritual with you.  We also like gatekeepers who escort people into the ritual space.  Please be in contact with us prior to the day of the ritual so we can talk you through the process.

What to bring: Your flowers with showy heads preferably, your decorated ribbon, your egg, your rock, drums and bells if you have them, natural bug repellent, raingear, and potluck food with your own plate, cup and flatware to prevent further accumulation of garbage. Bring a snack and water for before the ritual because it lasts a while. Leave your potluck food in the car until after the ritual, just make sure it stays cool.

Location and cost:  America’s Stonehenge is privately owned but is open to the public. The entry fee is $10 for adults, $9 for seniors 65+, and $7 for kids age 6-12. In addition there is a suggested $5 donation per adult at the ritual site to cover expenses. America’s Stonehenge stays open until sunset on the Solstice. The celebration is followed by lively music and is open to the public. We encourage children to come, as long they are accompanied by an adult. Bring a friend and please pass this information on.